Renit made a show of complaining about the changed training plans. He had to cancel with a Grounding specialist and pull back his reservation on the training room. With the way he made it sound, it was one of the most tiresome things he's ever done in his life. What a fool.

My power does not react well around closed structures. There's a reason I'm a witch of ground and not a witch of structure. To use my power, I need to be outside and away from anything I can break or split in two. It's happened before, I tried to move a giant boulder out of the way of my father's new structure—and took the entire thing down.

I wouldn't want to do the same thing to the castle and if I did that might be the end of my stay here and my so desperately sought-after engagement with Prince Renit. Instead of leading me down the many twisting and bare hallways with stone alcoves holding candles, Renit leads me outside the castle doors.

The morning is crisp and I pull my cloak tighter around me, a thick, dark fabric that hangs way too low for my comfort. It disappointed me to arrive back to my chambers and not see a heaping pile of clothes sitting on my bed. So, instead of tracking down Mani and asking for those clothes, it left me with Renit's cloak. And it's much too large for my small frame.

The black fabric nearly sweeps against the ground and instead of using the clasp, I have to tie the two stretches of fabric together, underneath my chin. If he wasn't such a mess of muscle and broad shoulders, then maybe the cloak would come close to fitting. But like everyone else here, Renit does nothing half-ass. That goes for training as well.

Renit leads me through the gardens, rather on the outside border of them so I don't get distracted and find Celestine, and past the stables. Each of the horses is beautiful, strong, and trained. As we pass by, one of the stable boys is saddle training a stubborn colt but from the way his voice is as soothing as the trickle of fountain water, he's a witch of persuasion. It won't take long before the horse obeys to his every wish.

I have only a few seconds to take in the beauty of the castle grounds. Although I plead and beg for Renit to let me take one look around, he does not offer that courtesy. Instead, he pushes me along and blocks me from the more beautiful things that have the chance to leave me frozen in awe. For another day, I'll have Silas show me around. He seems kind enough, much kinder than his brother. They're two sides of a gold coin.

Towards the side of the castle and past a small crumple of woods is a small field of grass once used for grazing. The broken wooden fence is still secure in some spots but for others, trampled either by someone's power or left here to rot. A clearing is the perfect place for me to train with my power and avoid hurting anyone in the process. But not letting Renit know that is the fun part. He still sees me as dangerous and willing to take everyone out.

We stop in the clearing and I extend my arm out to him, revealing the titanium band. "I'm not the only one out here," he warns me. "Archers are poised nearby to take you out if you even think about killing me or taking down the castle."

I roll my eyes. "Don't worry, princey. I won't do anything."

When he stares me down, not convinced, I shake my arm again impatiently. The sooner I get the bracelet off, the sooner I can start understanding my power. That's more important to me than anything, now that my parents are dead. Along with my deceased mother and father, an ache settles in my chest but I don't ignore it this time. Instead, I embrace it. Having their presence here, my mother's necklace against my chest and my father's will to make this power work, will get me through anything.

Renit steps close and pulls a key from his pocket. He looks all but pleased as the lock clicks and the titanium band slides away from my thin wrist. He sniffs.

"I hate that soap, wear something different," he grumbles.

I'm too busy feeling the rush of power to hear his complaints, to retort and share what Mani told me, that the prince would love it. Clearly, my stylist was wrong but like the many layers of an onion—Renit is difficult to figure out.

The power soars from my toes to my fingertips, pressing into my skull and filling my lungs with the scent of dirt and dust. That ancient tug and the strong rumble of what I can do rattles my stomach, stronger than any nerves. I don't know what to do first so instead of letting that power go; I clamp down on it like I've been doing for years. The power may be foreign to my hand but if there's one thing I've learned, it's to shut that power out, so no one sees.

"All right, what do you know?" Renit takes a step back and crosses his arms over his chest. The titanium band hangs loose in his fingers as though he's ready to clamp it back against my wrist if I do anything stupid. With all the training he's endured, his movements are as quick as a whip and I wouldn't be able to stop him.

"I know how to not use the power and how to hide the power, that's it."

He blinks. "Fine, I'll have to teach you everything." He sighs and looks me up and down. "The first step in using your power is controlling it. Like every witch, your power is prone to Outbursts but we'll get to that later. For now, learn how to control it. Be the master of your power."

I arch a brow. "That's not very solid advice and I don't think it will help me."

"Listen, spitfire, if you plan to complain about everything I tell you, I'll throw you in the dungeons. I can't hold your hand and walk you through your power, you have to do that yourself." He jerks his chin at me. "Hurry up, we don't have the rest of your miserable life to figure this out."

I want so badly to retort and throttle him but he's right. The only way I will understand my power is if I manage the force myself. And spitfire...I've never heard that one before. Of all the names I've been given along those lines, that one has never come up. My stubbornness is good for something at least, and apparently, that's nicknames.

Shutting out all the elements of the outside world, I close my eyes. That is the first thing my father taught me to do. Close my eyes and forget about everything else. The only thing around you is your power and your soul, mingling together as one.

Deterring back to those words, I access that power. Just a small slice of what it can do, a crack in the wall of my foundation. Renit is silent in front of me and thank the gods for it, otherwise, I wouldn't have a chance of focusing. The breeze sweeps through my hair and whispers reassurance and the grass tickles my shins, brushing against me like a long-lost friend.

Instead of the power dulled after the titanium band, it's roiling to escape. My power slams against those walls I've put up, trapping it in. Normally, I can quell it. Today, I cannot. The ground rumbles so violently underneath my feet I fall back, landing against the soft pillow of grass. Renit is there in a second, clamping the band around my wrist to stop it.

"Try again," he orders once the ground has stopped quaking. I wonder if anyone in the castle saw that or the supposed archers ready to shoot an arrow through my throat.

Very slowly, he removes the titanium band, and the power is sitting idle, waiting. There's a dull thrum of pressure inside my skull and I try to stand again. This time, I don't bother closing my eyes. This time, I want to see what my power might do when I'm open to looking at it. If I ever manage to master this power, I'll have to access it with open eyes.

Searching through that familiar hole in my mind, I find the power uncurling itself from the corner of the titanium cell. It notices me, recognizes my attention, and attacks. There's so much of it, desperate to escape, that with every time I want to release it, all of that force comes at once.

The ground tremors again and I don't have time to clamp down on it, to force some of that power away, when it slams against my shields and breaks them down in a second. Something cracks and I look between my boots, watching the ground split in two—rumbling and wavering as it does so.

I jump back and the crack follows me. Renit is too far away and with wide eyes, he backs away from the splitting surface so he doesn't fall into the expanding, three-inch-wide crack. It could get bigger, it will get bigger.

"Give me the bracelet." I extend out a hand and he tosses it across the space between us. As soon as the titanium touches my skin, the power departs.

"You really have no control," he sighs once the ground stops moving underneath our boots.

"I can't...there's too much of it. All the magic wants to come at once and I can't control it that way."

Renit clicks his tongue. "Don't get so flustered, there's a way around this."

I growl obscenities underneath my breath and place the titanium band in the pocket of my jacket. Just like that, the power fills me again and I try more than anything to be the wielder. But the ground power wields me to its own personal use and I am nothing more than the container trying to cap a lid on the rushing unpredictability.

"If they trained you at fifteen, this wouldn't have happened," Renit barks. "You should've been in the capital with access to the best trainers. Instead, you were squatting in a village on stolen land."

When my wrath swells, rising like the heat of the dawn, the ground quakes. I clench my fists together and the power screams to crush him. Make him pay, the power whispers. Kill the prince, kill the prince.

No, I cannot kill the prince. If I do, no one will be around to take care of Celestine and there's no telling what the king has planned for her. He could do as he pleases once our engagement is over because of his dead son and my beheaded body. And if Celestine was ever forced to do something she didn't want to do, I could never forgive myself. Instead of killing the prince, I must force everything in my body into protecting him. This will be the hardest thing I've ever done.

"Shut up," I growl through clenched teeth. "You're not helping."

He scoffs. "You're an immature child with no control over one of the deadliest powers in this kingdom. I'm not helping? You're not helping, Roux, because you're not trying. I watched you cleave apart the world underneath your feet as you ran from me. Where's that now?"

"Oh, you mean when you were trying to kill me with your power? You're the one with Outbursts, not me." I've completely forgotten about the trembling underneath my boots and Renit has too as he steps forward and closes the safe distance between us. I don't care about hurting him anymore; if he wants to fight—then we'll fight. His power is strong but mine is stronger.

"I wasn't trying to kill you, spitfire, I was trying to stop you." He places his scarred hands on his hips. The smell of rain follows him around like a ghost but I don't take a step back when the reminder of my village comes back. The last time I saw Arego...everything was falling to pieces.

A laugh croaks from my throat. Along with it comes the taste of sand. "You hit me, you kill me! There isn't any coming back from a lightning strike, you fool."

"What did you call me?" Irritation dances in his eyes. He towers over me to the point I have to lean back to see his face. The prince would be handsome if he smiled but now, he's a cold, calculated killer. There is nothing in his face that looks anything humane; he could snap my neck in two seconds.

My eyes don't falter when I stare at him through lowered brows. "I called you a fool." The ground splits underneath my boot at the same time I take a step back. I'll swallow him whole. With my power, I'll yank the ground open and throw him in before closing my power again. No one will ever see the prince again. My power is now the commander of the prince's fate.

"You should know better than to call a prince a fool." He closes the distance between us again and I can feel my power crinkling at my fingertips. Magic wants to protect me from any harm as the power of storm, my opposite, looms over me. There's no telling if he's my Grounding; if our powers can go back and forth between each other. No one has tried, there's never been a perfect union between two powers.

"Then don't call me spitfire."

"I can call you what I want, spitfire."

He sneers at me and my aggravation bursts. Instead of using my power to attack him, I bring up my foot, directly between his legs. But he's too quick. One second I'm standing upright, the next, the world is tilting and I'm looking at the blue sky was once over my head. The grass cushions my fall but it does nothing as Renit grabs the front of my jacket and pulls me back to a standing position. Like a feather. I'm nothing more than a weightless feather.

"Untrained and weak. You have much more to learn than I thought," Renit grovels. His words come out abrasive and unsympathetic. I want to get away from him, to go back home and never see this castle or the royal family again, but he keeps a firm grip on my jacket. "Tell me, spitfire, what do you do if your attacker has a grip on you, like this?"

I stare into those cold eyes and know immediately he refuses to give me the answer. They never taught me this, how to defend myself. Our mother never had a reason to do so and our father was too pure to think about attacking anyone outside of the right reasons. My parents were way too innocent for battles like this.

The lopsided grin on his face proves he knows. He knows I don't have the right answer for him and he finally releases his fist from my rumpled clothing. "You know nothing. You're as useless as a servant."

He turns away from me, heading back to the castle. That's it. I'm done messing around, I'm done fearing something I can't control. I unleash the entirety in the grassy clearing, far enough away from the castle so I don't do any damage. The ground quakes hard enough for my knees to buckle but I remain upright as does Renit as he stops, freezes, and whirls to face me.

The ground is so close to my fingertips and I will it into my power, clutching it in my fists, as I extend that hand and feel every crack and vein underneath my boots. Rocks litter the ground surface and feet down, boulders rest. Renit stares me down and in his eyes, I can see how out of luck he is. The titanium band is still in my pocket and my power is mine to use.

Solid ground splinters and around us, as I will it, a wall forms—nearly ten feet tall. It surrounds us and breaks through the surface cleanly, stopping only a foot where Renit stands. The sun is blotted out by the solid wall and shadows cast over his face, his eyes, his lips as the clouds form over our heads.

Thunder rumbles.

"What's your plan now? We're trapped in here, in your power. Take out your anger on me spitfire, do it!" He slams both hands against his chest and I unleash.

I've stopped caring. The ground cracks as the power releases, pinning him against the wall with solid stone and dirt. His back slams against the solid surface but to my surprise, he's grinning. And I know why.

Renit sends down a bolt of lightning from his storm and the blast lands directly in front of me, knocking me against that stone wall I built so strong against my back. My vision is spotted with stars as my head snaps back, hits the stone, and I fall forward.

Dirt and rock slam back down to the ground, some of it landing on my crumbling frame, as my power finally wills to weaken. There's such a strain in my body, a release I haven't felt in too long. The last time I did...I was seconds away from launching myself over the cliff sides to escape Renit. And that hadn't been long enough because I nearly died after but now...that strain will be with me when we go back to the castle.

My throat is thick with dirt as I pant and try to breathe, try to find a way back to the world I so desperately want to remain alive in. Renit mumbles obscenities about my failure, about how weak I am and how useless I've become because of my father, because of the village I call home. Renit's harsh words will not change my past or the way I feel about it. That is my home, my life, my blood, and I will not forget it because of a stubborn prince.

Instead of waiting for him to force me up, I stand on my own two feet. Blood trickles from my forehead. Renit is covered in dust, his once dark tunic now a shade lighter because of my power. His boots, now covered in a thin layer of dirt.

"Sorry," I rasp.

"Test your power," he orders, completely sidestepping my apology.

With a shake of my head, one that causes a shooting pain in my skull, I say, "No, I can't."

"Do it, Roux, before I force you."

He takes those steps towards me and in all but a second; I force that power back out. My muscles ache but this time, when I open that door to my power, fully open it, nothing screams or barks at me to release. There is less power there, the temper has cooled, and I can breathe again.

Every time I've accessed my power, there has been nothing but rage and force waiting for me. For the first time in my life, my power is mine to control. The dust prickles at my fingertips and like I did before, with a subtle raise of my hand, I lift a wall from the ground. A wall of dirt and solid stone—crafted how I wanted to craft it.

The structure rises to my waist before I let it fall again, crafting the power at my hand. Like twinkling chimes, the power sings within me. That ancient power thanks me, kissing against my skin, my heart, my soul, my very being. And for once, I take a deep breath and know this power will not kill me in the end.